3 Reasons Why You Need to Try Meditation

As a therapist I challenge my clients to engage in activities that help them manage stress, anxiety and difficulties in their lives. Often the subject of meditation comes up and I encourage my clients to embrace the practice and the positive results it seems to have on people. However, I’ve never thought of engaging in meditation practices myself. Meditation seemed like something that I wouldn’t be able to connect with; I felt like my mind races too much and that I didn’t have the time for it. But most recently I challenged myself to participate in meditation, via Oprah and Deepak Chorpa’s Free 21 day meditative experience; and I wanted to share my own results after consistently mediating for 15 days (the challenge isn’t over yet so you can still sign up!) Here are 3 benefits of meditation that I experienced:

1. Peaceful Mind and Spirit As cliché as it sounds, I found that meditation did in fact quiet my mind and spirit. It was challenging to just sit and be without having 1,001 things going through my mind but after remaining consistent, I found that those intrusive thoughts that came to me began to quiet when I learned how to let them pass without acknowledging or judging myself for having them.

2. Less Negative Thoughts I will admit that I’m a pretty positive person, but even the most positive spirit can be plagued by negative thoughts. Through meditation I’ve learned that a lot of the negative thoughts I had didn’t necessarily come from me and that I didn’t have to act on them. I also didn’t have to accept or internalize them when they came. Slowly but surely the thoughts have become infrequent.

3. More Control Over My Mind and Mood The greatest thing I have learned from meditating is that our minds function without us having to do anything. Just like our lungs and heart breathe and pump without us telling it to, so does our mind think about things automatically without our say so. Meditation is powerful in the sense that it helped me gain control over my thoughts. It helped me understand that I am not what my mind drifts to and that I need to be the one in control of my mind and the impact my mind has on my mood. Once I recognized that, It was a powerful moment of realization that changed my perspective on how I function.

If you were like me and thought that meditation was not for you, challenge yourself to think and live outside your comfort zone. Everyone will have different meditative experiences but you may find that it could be exactly what you need to help you with whatever you’re going through. For free guided meditations, check out Oprah and Deepak’s challenge here as well as some great meditations viaYouTube.

Alanna Gardner, MFT is a regular contributor for The Urban Realist as a sex, relationship, and self-development expert. After going through her own “quarter-life crisis”, Alanna understands the importance of finding your path in life through the lessonʼs offered to you in your experiences and relationships with others. Alanna is a budding entrepreneur; serving as therapist and co-owner of Philadelphia MFT. When she's not working with clients, you can catch her sweating it out on the bike as an Indoor Cycling Instructor with Flywheel Sports. Follow her on Twitter & Instagram: @alannagthemft